Empire of AI

Karen Hao, 2025

See how the money, labor, water and power behind large AI models actually work, and learn to judge any system by whether it concentrates or spreads power.

Get the app Read on the web

8 parts, about 16 minutes to read.

Why read it

Argues that the race toward general AI has created a new kind of empire built on data, labor and resources
Shows the hidden costs behind chatbots, from data workers in Kenya to thirsty data centers
Draws on years of reporting inside the industry and ends with a community built alternative

Who it is for

Readers who use AI tools and want to know what they cost
People working in tech policy or AI governance
Engineers and researchers doubting the bigger is better race

What the summary covers

The Question Behind the Drama2 min
From Altruistic Lab to Capital Machine2 min
Scaling Becomes Destiny2 min
The People Hidden Inside the Machine2 min
Products, Secrecy, and Competing Meanings of Safety2 min
The Physical Footprint2 min
A Board Cannot Govern an Empire Alone2 min
How the Empire Falls2 min

Recommended by

Shoshana ZuboffAuthor and Harvard Business School professor emerita
Empire of AI is a heroic work.
Daron AcemogluNobel laureate in economics and MIT professor
If you ever wondered whether all of this is inevitable, whether to believe all the promises of tech luminaries, whether we could save a little bit of our democracy in the age of AI, then read this book!

About the author

Karen HaoJournalist covering artificial intelligence; former senior AI editor at MIT Technology Review
- B.S. in mechanical engineering with a minor in energy studies, 2015
- Former foreign correspondent in Hong Kong for The Wall Street Journal
- Former senior AI editor at MIT Technology Review
- Cohosts the BBC podcast The Interface and contributes to The Atlantic
- Reporting on AI and AI colonialism for seven years led her to the book's thesis and title